Hellooo!,

I wanted to plan a 3-4 days trip with my parents(both aged>60) and my husband in Mid-September. We are currently based in Northern-NJ.

Any suggestions on what destinations we can visit, if we wanted to go driving, and not by air. Since me and my husband will be driving, probably a 4-6 hrs of drive should be doable..

We have already been to Lake George and Finger lakes area with them before, so wanted to visit some new place this time. Also, they are visiting from MA and have gone enough num of times to RI, NH, Maine etc..so I am more inclined to south of NJ..

Any inputs on how the fall colors would be by Sep15th?

Thanks,

Fall colors south of NJ in mid-September is unlikely. I went up to CT last year in early October and the leaves were barely changing. Central Park was still green (my profile photo is from 10/10/10)

Have you/they been to Washington DC? How about Annapolis and Baltimore?

Apart from DC, Annapolis, Baltimore... how about Philadelphia? Or even Richmond, VA?

Brandywine Valley south of Philadelphia?

Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, other DuPont estates, Brandywine Rivwer museum...

Thank you all. I'll look at these options..They have been to Washington DC..but Annapolis and Brandywine Valley look nice..I'll check those out.

Any wineries or wine trails in DC/Virginia side? like finger lakes? that are worth exploring?

Thanks

There are wineries in VA but I don't know what a wine trail is.

probably not the right term, by wine trail, i meant multiple wineries close to each other, that you can go to for wine tasting etc

There are lots of wineries in Northern Virginia. Check out http://www.loudounwine.com/WineTrail/index.htm and http://www.visitfauquier.com/wineries.html. These are the wineries in Loudoun County and Fauquier County, VA. The colors may be changing in the Shenandoah then, although it may be a little early.

Head down to the Charlottesville, VA area. It is best known as being the home to two U.S. Presidents (Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe), and nearby is that of James Madison, as well as the home of the University of Virginia, which, along with Monticello is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. All three homes and the university can be visited and it is a beautiful area.